New Forensic Archaeology Technique Provides Insights Into 'Day Before Death'

By Curtis Bisbee•Aug 13, 2013

Lead in text:

Kaare Lund Rasmussen and his colleagues have used their newly developed sampling technique on soil samples from 19 medieval burials in the cemeteries Lindegaarden in Ribe and Ole Wormsgade in Horsens, Denmark.

For more than a century archaeologists have carefully brushed and shoveled away the soil surrounding human skeletons. It was thought that the soil was without any value -- but now ground-breaking research from Danish scientists show that that the soil holds the key to very detailed information about the individual in the grave.